A British Indian tourist recently triggered controversy with a now-deleted Reddit post where she referred to India as an “overpriced dump.” The criticism is placed on the infrastructure and the availability of amenities. “The roads suck, the infrastructure is crumbling, every other corner is riddled with filth, and there is no such thing as civic sense out there – the poverty gap is astounding, and it’s becoming more expensive to live, she wrote,” and three-year travel experience account shot into viral trends in no time, taking the netizens to varying extremes in social media posts.
Uttarkashi-based tourism entrepreneur Anand Sankar shared the post on X (formerly Twitter), but it echoed some of the concerns. He wrote, “We have become an overpriced dump of a destination,” and pointed out significant issues like “air quality, general hygiene & cleanliness, women’s safety & incoherent chaotic internal logistics.”
Sankar also talked about the challenges India faces in the tourism sector. He said that the high domestic airfares and expensive local travel have made it difficult for middle and upper-middle-class domestic tourists to travel. He further said, “There is no optimism and mystique anymore – every potential inbound visitor is seeing the news and reading on social media.”
I am part of the tourism industry and have been vociferously saying this for the last 2+ years – we have become an overpriced dump of a destination.
Every single agent/partner of ours in the UK, EU, Australia & USA has the following questions – air quality, general hygiene &… pic.twitter.com/C1B6mZYuUL
— Anand Sankar (@kalapian_) December 19, 2024
Javed Akhtar’s View on Tourism Potential
As the Reddit post gathered momentum, an old video of Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar began floating on social media. He spoke about India’s humongous cultural and historical heritage, mentioning landmarks like Taj Mahal, palaces in Rajasthan, temples of South India, and Ajanta Ellora.
He regretted to have such treasures neglected, saying, “There are such things here – broken. We don’t respect our heritage.” Akhtar underlined the untapped opportunity in India’s tourism potential and added, “If we had proper infrastructure for tourism, this country could become wealthy just from tourism.”
The incident has spurred a renewed debate on Indian tourism infrastructure and the unexploited opportunities in such rich cultural heritage to host global visitors.
